Beach bums! (June '10)

We took Laney to the beach this summer & had a blast...just the 3 of us! We hauled everything you could think of down to the beach every day (who knew you needed so much stuff!) & relaxed & enjoyed the sun & sand as a family! Laney loved sitting under the tent playing in the sand. For days leading up to our trip, she kept saying, "Laney build sandcastles!". So, that's exactly what we did! We built sandcastles, sandcastles & more sandcastles. Elmo even got to stand on one of her big ones!

She was NOT a fan of the ocean ("Laney no like ocean!"), so we stayed on the beach most of our trip.

We went out to dinner one night & walked the boardwalk in Murrells Inlet, ventured to Broadway for Laney to experience the rides & enjoyed just being together. It was a wonderful vacation & I've definitely got a "beach babe" on my hands...minus the ocean that is!

A little peak into our summer.....

Every Thursday, we head over to the library for story time!

Lots of time spent at our neighborhood pool!

We've attended a few birthday parties - oh how she loves the cupcake!

We took a family trip to Lazy 5 Ranch! (a follow-up post coming soon!)

She LOVES to play at the park! Luckily, there are many great parks close by!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Laney!

I love birthdays. I just do! I want my child to know how much her mommy loves birthdays. I want them to be big. Lots of people. I love birthdays. It's one day that belongs to YOU. No one else, you don't have to share. It's all about YOU!

On her actual birthday, she got to wear her "birthday dress" & loved every minute of it - fever blisters & all! She & her buddy Sam share the same birthday, so we teamed up with his mom to make sure all the kids had cake & ice cream that day! Mic & I took her to get ice cream & feed the ducks that evening after having her most favorite food in the world for dinner - hot dogs!!  She had a great birthday, but I was anxiously awaiting the day of her party! It was going to be so much fun!!

Because birthdays are a big deal to me, I had been planning Laney's 2nd birthday for a while. "Sesame Street" was the theme & we held it at a local park. They have an awesome playground (swings, merry go-round, slides, etc.) & it's all fenced in . . .even better!! We brought the grill, set everything out under the shelter & enjoyed lots of family & friends. We got to see lots of people we hadn't seen in a while & caught up with most & kissed on all of the new babies to join our circle of friends.

Unfortunately, Laney was a little "under the weather". She just hadn't been feeling like herself & it showed on the day of her party - no matter how much I tried to act like it didn't. Poor thing. All she wanted to do was "wing" aka: "swing". Thankfully, we had lots of hands on deck to make sure the birthday girl was in the swing the entire party. She didn't care about her cupcakes, juice or presents. She just wanted to swing. (3 days later she was walking around saying "birthday party" & loving all of her wonderful presents, just not the day of her party!!)

Now, despite all of my planning & organizing, sweet Laney just wanted to swing & go home this day. I dosed her up with medicine, tried to give her the best party I could  - yet all she wanted was a swing. In the end, everything was a success & I think everyone had a great time!
Happy 2nd Birthday Laneybug!

Thank you all for being so special to us!

Where she spent most of her time!

Elmo!!

Finally, enjoying her presents!

March 2010

We've had a busy month & we're only 1/2 way there! Hard to believe that Laney will be 2 years old next month!! She is becoming a little person more & more each day. Her personality is so fun & we are enjoying every minute of it!
She is carrying on conversations, loves to brush her teeth, loves to go outside, and loves to help mommy clean! She is obsessed with shoes, hairbows & Sesame Street, she plays kitchen every day & loves to make mommy & daddy "juice". She climbed out of her crib this month at daycare 3x's in one day. On the 3rd time, she grabbed a handful of toys, threw them in Elizabeth's crib & then climbed in with her to play - needless to say, they both went without a nap. Yikes! And Laney now sleeps with a "tent" over her bed like all of the other big kids! (She loves it!!)
She's saying lots of new words & combining them to make phrases & sentences. She loves french toast & drawing on "baper". She is pee peeing in the potty somewhat & is excited about taking baths again...finally!

I can only imagine how busy the rest of the month will be & then we'll be getting ready for the big #2 birthday party!!! Excited to see what awaits us, in the mean time - we'll keep enjoying the precious gift we've been blessed with!

Together at the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown!

We had a very Merry Christmas!

Laney must have been really good this year - Santa came! No one was sick (praise Jesus!) & we were able to enjoy Christmas together as a family the way I envisioned it would be! We began some fun traditions & are looking forward to the many Christmases to come! I think we enjoyed getting ready for Santa as much as Laney did playing w/ everything Santa brought! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with the people you hold dear!

Mama & Laney on Christmas Eve!

Murphy was waiting on Santa too!

MiMi helping Laney open a very big present!

Daddy & Laney reading the Christmas story before bedtime

What was in the Elmo bag??

"WOW! Can you believe this is all for me??"

She took some time to eat Christmas morning breakfast at her new table!

Elmo!! She was soooo happy!

Our Christmas tree!

One happy girl!

Relaxing on Murphy after opening all those presents!

Hanging out with Grandma!